The preceding sentence is an example of what experienced journalists call a “bald-faced lie.” It’s designed to conceal my motives. Sort of like how the Press Herald and Sunday Telegram concealed their motives in the debate over tax reform, by failing to mention the papers had a stake in the outcome. More about that in a moment.

The truth is that while I’m a big fan of “Mark Trail” and “Big Nate,” much of what doesn’t run on the comics pages in the PPH and MST ranges from disappointing to deadly dull. I read it, but only because those publications set the agenda for political debate in Maine.

Without the Portland newspapers, TV, radio, and the Web would have almost no statewide issues to discuss. The outside-the-mainstream media occasionally break a story, but the majority of their content is either a reaction to, an expansion on or a repeat of what’s already appeared in the Press Herald or Sunday Telegram. Even the Bangor Daily News, the only other Maine news outlet of comparable stature, can’t compete with the Portland papers in the range of issues publicized and the impact of that publicity.

The PPH and MST coverage of the tax-reform debate probably generated more public opposition to the legislation than all the anti-reform lobbying campaigns — and there were a lot of them — combined. In a May 16 Press Herald story, the editors highlighted the effect an expanded sales tax, a key part of the reform bill, would have. It would extend the five-percent levy to “dozens of tax-free services,” they wrote, “from body piercing, movie tickets and snow plowing to dry cleaning, pet grooming and plumbing.” In a May 23 front-page story, the paper interviewed a barber distraught over the possibility haircuts would be taxed; a dry cleaner, worried customers would complain about the added cost; and a ski industry spokesman, fearful of lost business. The story was accompanied by photos of cute puppies, people walking on beautiful beaches, and kids enjoying amusement-park rides, all pleasures that might soon be subject to a new tax.

As public-relations expert Dennis Bailey, the owner of Savvy Inc. in Portland, put it in an e-mail, “It read like an ad, something, well, that Savvy would produce to help defeat the proposal.”

Which was probably the intent. But readers had to look hard to find the reason.

What was mentioned only in passing — in the story’s 17th paragraph on the back page of the section — was that the tax reform bill would impose a five-percent levy on newspapers. What wasn’t mentioned at all was that the Press Herald and Sunday Telegram were lobbying furiously against the bill, urging their employees to write to legislators on the Taxation Committee asking them to oppose the measure.

On May 31, the PPH produced a fairly straightforward story on how the reform bill would reduce the state income tax. But the headline was “Tax plan comes with trade-offs,” and the subhead left no doubt as to the paper’s sentiments: “Income tax savings could also bring the expense of sales tax on more items.” The fact that one of those items would be newspapers was, again, referred to only in passing.

Jump to it Tax reform is the Evel Knievel of political issues. It gives us the most pleasure when it crashes and burns.

I've heard that story before Each year, Governor John Baldacci announces his top priority in the next legislative session will be reducing the state income tax. (“Lack of political clout? What lack of political clout?”)

Speak no evil? Anthony Lewis's free-speech credentials are impeccable: among other things, the former New York Times columnist is James Madison Visiting Professor of First Amendment Issues at Columbia University's Journalism School

After Innocence Last week, the vice-president of the National District Attorneys Association wrote a breathless op-ed in the New York Times .

Nouveau Jim Crow Would Governor Mitt Romney or Attorney General Thomas Reilly call for a public or legislative vote to end slavery if it still existed in Massachusetts or the United States?

An unprecedented crime I have a true ghost story to tell: the story of 35,000 ghosts in America, the largely invisible inmates of our solitary-confinement “supermax” prisons.

Jubilation! We can all thank the conservatives who several years ago controlled the state legislature for the fact that Massachusetts citizens have same-sex- marriage rights.

Bloody July In just one month, six different State Supreme Courts have ruled against gay marriage

SMILING FACES | November 03, 2014 In an attempt to ease the state’s severe cognitive-dissonance shortage, the arbiters of good taste have spent this election season beseeching candidates to practice both civility and sincerity.

REASON HIDDEN | October 24, 2014 Late last year, Michaud publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. The experts were quick to claim it wouldn’t be a big factor in the gubernatorial race.

SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE | October 16, 2014 Want to save the taxpayers of Maine over $60 million? It’s so simple even somebody with no political skills at all can do it.